The Fall

If you are one of the few people who read my blog, you are aware that I enjoy thinking and writing about the Creation story.  In this case, I have been think a great deal about the Fall; I have come to believe that a consequence of the Fall is a dualistic mindset.  One of the interesting characteristics of great thinkers like Jesus, Buddha, and Gandhi is that they offer us a third option.  According to the gospels Jesus taught in parables, which to the dismay of the Pharisees offered a new way to be in the world - rather than embrace the law as a way to show God love through obedience, He taught us that the law was made for us, and we could us it to include each other and love each other, rather than exclude and exalt ourselves for being obedient.  The Buddha offer us the middle way - being an ascetic is not going to bring peace, neither is going to the other extreme of being hedonistic, instead he offered a third option.  Gandhi taught a paradox - nonviolent protest - rather than fighting with violence as many people would have done and rightly so in their position, Gandhi provided a combination of protest and non-participation - a third option.  The third option always demands a merciful response - it always demands the best of our humanity.  Jesus rightly taught that He is the way the truth and the life - our salvation lies in the third way, which requires a flexible and humble mindset.  Only our true selves can follow in the path of the third way.

Humility

Uriah Heep is one of the more memorable characters from Charles Dicken's novel, David Copperfield; his famous character flaw was to proclaim how humble he was to everyone he met.  Although it was meant as a joke by the author, it is a great example of a profound misunderstanding of the concept of humility, which seems to have pervaded the Western mindset; which is, the act of being humble means to downplay all of your strengths, while reminding everyone of your weaknesses.  According to this definition, Heep was actually proud of his humility, therefore nullifying any hint of true humility.

This understanding of the word humble or humility is also found in the Caltholic church.  Recently, I had a conversation with an ex-monk who, in the tradition of Uriah Heep, told me that he would never claim to be a humble man because it would be an act of pride, instead he would revel in his weaknesses in order to remind himself that he is actually nothing before God and therefore worthy to be called a child of God.  History backs up his understanding and mindset; the mystics of the Catholic Church fill much of their writings with proclamations dedicated to how lowly they were; "I am, but a worm", cried Luther from his monastery cell.

Protestants, are not immune from false humility either; apparently, Luther brought the idea with him.  Calvin, with his doctrine of total depravity seems to have actually outdone medieval mystics and even the desert fathers - and that is not an easy task!  After attending several Protestant Bible studies in the recent past, I have noticed that the idea is alive and well, today.  On one memorable occasion, I was listening to a minister who was visiting the Bible study and as soon as he found an example of victory in the Bible, instead of celebrating the freedom found in the Christian life, he turned an opportunity to talk about how God has worked in his life into a time to emphasize his weaknesses.  Then a strange thing happened, everyone in the room started talking about their own weaknesses and how they were turning them over to God.  Now, I understand that we are incomplete without God, but are we as bad as Monty Python suggests  "Oh great and powerful, master of the universe; OH awesome, and spectacular being of utter magnanimity; I am so weak and lowly; yes, obsequious!!

Indeed, I think we have left the path of truth when it comes to the true definition of being humble.  It is troubling because it is definitely a prerequisite to a saving relationship with Christ and must be apart of a person's character if they are going to follow Christ's commandment on Earth - to love one another.  So, how can it be so important, yet unrecognizable within ourselves at best, or at worse, unattainable?  After thinking deeply about this subject, I have concluded that we have replaced true humility with false humility.  The fact is, every time we replace a sober acknowledgment of our strengths with a slogging through the mire of our weaknesses we are still being prideful - we are repeating Uriah's character flaw, by way of inserting a clever, yet transparent twist - instead of focusing on our strengths we revel in our weaknesses.  We certainly expect the same behavior from the people we worship in Hollywood and in the sports arena.  Michael Jordon was the best basketball player of his time; Tiger Woods is the best golfer of his day, yet both would be ostracized if they even hinted at this truth.

I believe one of the reasons our society today demands false humility is because we mistake the action of being humble with being humiliated.  In fact, the only time a famous, beloved person in our society can be vulnerable is when they have been humiliated by the press or their own negative behavior made public.  If false humility is the downplay of strengths and an empathize on weakness, which involves no real vulnerability; true humility is a sober understanding of our strengths and weaknesses, which involves vulnerability.  C.S. Lewis once said that he hesitated to claim the word Christian because it had taken on such a negative connotation, he could barely relate to it as a follower of Christ.  I feel the same way about the word humility - I think I will substitute the word vulnerable for humility because it seems to capture more of the truth without the baggage.



 

Carnival

Well, I've walked these streets
A virtual stage, it seemed to me
Makeup on their faces
Actors took their places next to me

Well, I've walked these streets
In a carnival, of sights to see
All the cheap thrill seekers vendors and the dealers
They crowded around me

1-Have I been blind have I been lost
Inside myself and my own mind
Hypnotized, mesmerized by what my eyes have seen?

Well, I've walked these streets
In a spectacle of wealth and poverty
In the diamond markets the scarlet welcome carpet
That they just rolled out for me

And I've walked these streets
In the madhouse asylum they can be
Where a wild-eyed misfit prophet
On a traffic island stopped and he raved of saving me

Have I been blind, have I been lost
Have I been blind, have I been mean
Have I been strong

Hypnotized, mesmerized by what my eyes have seen
In that great street carnival, in that carnival?

- Natalie Merchant

Indigo Girls

"Closer To Fine"

I'm trying to tell you something about my life
Maybe give me insight between black and white
The best thing you've ever done for me
Is to help me take my life less seriously, it's only life after all
Well darkness has a hunger that's insatiable
And lightness has a call that's hard to hear
I wrap my fear around me like a blanket
I sailed my ship of safety till I sank it, I'm crawling on your shore.

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountain
There's more than one answer to these questions
pointing me in crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine.

I went to see the doctor of philosophy
With a poster of Rasputin and a beard down to his knee
He never did marry or see a B-grade movie
He graded my performance, he said he could see through me
I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind, got my paper
And I was free.

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountain
There's more than one answer to these questions
pointing me in crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine.

I stopped by the bar at 3 a.m.
To seek solace in a bottle or possibly a friend
I woke up with a headache like my head against a board
Twice as cloudy as I'd been the night before
I went in seeking clarity.

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountain
There's more than one answer to these questions
pointing me in crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine.

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountain
There's more than one answer to these questions
pointing me in crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine.

We go to the bible, we go through the workout
We read up on revival and we stand up for the lookout
There's more than one answer to these questions
pointing me in a crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine
The closer I am to fine
The closer I am to fine

Wisdom

"The Church is a whore and she's my mother" - Augustine

"WWJD? He would offer us a third option"

"Wondering if you are successfully acting Christlike?  Tune in to the level of opposition from other Christians"

"The purpose of influence is to speak up for people who do not have influence" - Rick Warren

"If we really love each other, we will go out of our way to learn about people's best qualities" - Lord save us from your followers

"Repentance is changing the direction you look for your happiness" - Keating